A False New Start
by bloodybrill
Summary: Bella is trying to start over with no interaction from the supernatural. However, everything is screwed up when a certain vampire shows up in her first college class. Full summary inside
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **Edward never went to Italy to kill himself, he and Bella never got back together because he saw her happy with Jacob when he finally went back to Forks. With the knowledge that she was happy without Edward, he stayed away and Bella graduated high school and made the decision to get away from Forks. She wanted to go to a college in a warm sunny place but Middlebury in Vermont offered the best scholarship and financial aid plus it had the best curriculum for her English major. She's glad to be on the opposite side of the country until a familiar vampire shows up in her classes and ruins everything.

**Disclaimer: **Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Charlie asked for the millionth time. "You're going to be far away from everyone."

I felt bad for leaving him. Charlie had put up with so much from me over the past year, I don't know how I would have survived without him. If it wasn't for him forcing me to school and to eat every day during those first few months, I most likely would have just stayed in bed and stayed comatose. Sure, Jacob had been the one who had really helped me find myself but Charlie had kept me afloat in my sea of despair in the beginning. Now I was going to the other end of the country and I wouldn't see him until Christmas because it was too expensive and pointless to make a plane trip for Thanksgiving or any time in between.

"Yeah, Dad," I told him with a smile. "I'll be fine, you know me, I can take care of myself."

"I know," he sighed. "I guess I just never thought I'd be dropping you off to go to school by plane."

I had been thinking the same thing all summer as I made lists of what I would bring from home and what I would buy when I got to the campus. Because I was traveling by plane, I was limited with what I could bring. Most of the things I had brought with me were clothes, books, bed linens, and towels. I would buy toiletries, some food, and anything else I would need once I had all my things put away in the room. Charlie was going to hang around and bring me to the nearest Walmart or Target so we could get the shopping done then he was heading off to a hotel for the night and heading back to Forks tomorrow. I felt bad that he was spending so much money, I had offered to just go on the plane by myself, get a taxi at the airport, and move in by myself but he wouldn't hear of it.

"This is an important time, Bells," he'd said a few weeks ago when I first brought it up. "I want to be there when you go into your room for the first time and I want to see the campus."

He had rented a car for the two days and at the moment we were stuck in a long line as we waited to get to my dorm hall, Hadley Hall. We had been in the same spot for at least ten minutes but at least I was getting a chance to look at the campus, something I had only seen online since coming out to visit hadn't really been an option. The freshman orientation was held during the first few days after move in and I had been working extra time at the Newtons' store to make extra money. Taking a trip to Vermont didn't really seem important at the moment.

"Finally," Charlie mumbled as the car in front of us began moving forward a few feet.

Because there was a little traffic jam, I was told to walk up to the dorms and sign in so that when we did get up to the building and had everything unloaded, I could go right up to my room with my things. That didn't take long to do, it took maybe ten minutes to fill out the paperwork and get my key then I was back in the car with Charlie who had only moved up a few spaces.

After another fifteen minutes we were in front of Hadley. The directions we were given were to get everything out of the car and put it on the grass next to the building then have someone move the car so that it wouldn't get in the way. I only had two suitcases and two carryon bags so it didn't take long to unload the car. Charlie left to follow the flow of traffic and I waited for him next to my bags. I didn't want to leave my things unattended and this gave me a chance to look around at my classmates. Seeing how much some people brought made me feel very unprepared. People were piling their items into rolling bins that were filled to the top and I even saw someone with two bins.

It was an overcast day and I just hoped that the rain would hold off until tonight so everyone could get moved in. Looking up at the cloudy sky, I sent out a prayer that this town had more sunlight than Forks, the last thing I needed was the threat of any vampires showing up. I was done with the supernatural with the exception of the Quileute wolf pack. Besides them, I didn't want to have anything to do with any vampires, shape shifters, or any other mythical creature that lived in our world. I was busy glowering up at the clouds when Charlie came back over to me.

I was entering college in a new state, with a new attitude, and a new look. I had wanted to reinvent myself slightly. This was a new place and I was done with my plain style. Angela and I had gone to the salon in Portland a week before and gotten new hairstyles. I'd chopped off a few inches and gotten some layers added. It wasn't much but I had gotten a few compliments about it and I was glad for the style that I chose myself. I was done being someone's Barbie doll.

"How're we doing this?" he asked, looking at my few bags. "We could get one of those bins."

"I don't think we need to do that. We can probably make it up in one trip, there are elevators so we don't have to lug the suitcases up a flight of stairs."

He nodded and grabbed one of the suitcases and a carryon and waited for me to do the same. We wove through the crowded sidewalk and got up the wheelchair ramp to the lobby. There was a short line for the elevators and it wasn't long until we were on our way up to the second floor.

The door to room 238 was slightly ajar when we reached it, I guess I would get to meet my roommate in person sooner than I thought. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door farther open and walked inside.

"Hi!" Catherine exclaimed from her spot next to her already covered bed. "I'm Catherine, you must be Bella! It's so great to finally meet you. I hope you don't mind that I took this side of the room, my mom wanted to be here to make sure all of the sheets and mattress cover fit so I had to pick fast."

"It's fine," I told her and it really was. Both sides were identical, it really didn't matter to me which side I slept on. "This is my dad Charlie."

"Hi!" She was full of so much energy, I just hoped she would calm down once we got to know each other. Her exuberance reminded me of Alice. At least the two looked nothing alike. Catherine was maybe an inch or two taller than me with curly red hair and warm brown eyes. From what I'd learned about her through our emails over the summer, she was going to be an English major as well and she lived in New Hampshire so she didn't have the long travel like I did. "Do you need help with your things?"

I shook my head and dropped the carryon I had on my bed. "Nope, this is it. We're actually going to head out to the store and grab some stuff, this was everything I could bring on the plane. Do you want to come with us?" I asked at the last moment. If I was going to be living with this girl for the year, I should make some effort to spend time with her.

"Sure, if that's all right?" she looked to Charlie for confirmation.

"It's fine. It'll be good for you two to get to know each other a little more. Bells, we don't have to head out right away, why don't you two take a little more time to unpack and figure out what you need then we can go."

Catherine, who insisted I call her Catie, offered to help me unpack and she ended up setting up my books on my half of the bookshelf. Our room was a decent size with our two beds end to end with a ledge that ran along the wall next to them. Our dressers were four drawers that were cut in half so there were two stacks of two under our beds. We each had a closet that had a good amount of room plus a desk and two shelves above the desk. Catie had brought a microfridge unit and I offered to get the TV when we went out even though I didn't watch much TV, it just seemed like the nice thing to do.

It didn't take long to get all of my clothes organized in the closet and drawers. The rest of the things I had didn't need to be dealt with right away, it was mostly some toiletries that needed to be used up from home, some things to make the room feel more homey like pictures and some wall decorations Renee had found and shipped to me with a note saying I definitely needed them, and the few school supplies I had left over from high school. I left those things in one of the bags and put it on the bed next to my sheets and everything, I would make my bed after Charlie left.

"Do we need anything for the room?" Catie asked once I finished up with everything. "I know we have the little mirror on the door but I was thinking maybe I'll get a full length mirror and I can keep that on my closet door."

"I can't really think of anything," I said while writing down the things I would need. High on the list were a dry erase calendar, snack foods and Easy Mac, and a lamp. Catie helped me finish up my list by going through her things, she had a lot of stuff, and working from there. By the time we were finished and ready to head out, I had a nice long list, I was once again reminded of Alice. I was angry with myself for thinking about her so much on what was supposed to be a good day. I did miss Alice, I missed her like crazy, but she had hurt me just as much as _he_ had by leaving and never coming back. If she really had loved me like a sister, Alice would have ignored him and come to see me at least once. It had been almost a year and I hadn't seen or heard a word from any of them. It made me angry and sad at the same time, something I didn't want to deal with on the first day of college.

"Okay, let's go, I think I have everything I need," I brightly said, pushing away all negative thoughts.

It was much easier to get out of the parking garage and away from the school than it had been to get to the dorms. Catie had stayed at the school for a weekend during the school year to get a feel for the campus and the girl she had been staying with had taken her around town so she knew the way to Walmart. Apparently we weren't the only students who needed to get extra stuff. Throughout the store we saw a couple people sporting Middlebury t-shirts and students were getting each other's opinions on what to get for their room.

Shopping with Catie was…fun surprisingly. It was nothing against her, I just didn't think we would hit it off so easily. However, after spending an hour shopping with her, I thought we could become good friends. She was a jokester and kept me laughing throughout the trip. I was actually looking forward to when Charlie left and we could have some time to ourselves to get to know each other more. We had covered the basics through our emails but it would be better to actually sit down face to face and talk.

"Do you have enough stuff, Bells?" Charlie asked when we were loading the shopping cart's contents into the car.

I had to admit, I did have a lot more stuff now. I may have gone overboard with the food but I was more than willing to share it with Catie and I had doubled up on any bathroom items I got so that I wouldn't have to go to the store too often. I was pleased with my purchases, though. I figured I would be good for a little while at least.

"I think I should head out," Charlie announced after we had brought everything back to the room. Catie and I were chattering about what orientation events we were going to participate in over the next few days. "Do you want to walk me out?"

"Yeah, of course."

We rode the elevator in silence and still didn't say anything as we left the building. I was curious about what Charlie was getting ready to say because I could see the wheels turning in his mind. I didn't have to wait long, once we were halfway to the parking garage he stopped.

"I'll let you go here, there's no point in you walking all the way there and back."

"Okay, are you coming to say bye tomorrow?"

"No," he looked a little upset as he said that. "My plane leaves at seven and I have to get the car back."

"Oh."

We stood there awkwardly. Neither of us were ones for heartfelt moments so we weren't really sure what to say.

Charlie let out deep breath. "Well, have a good time, Bells. I know you'll do great here."'

"Thanks, Dad."

"And…just be safe. Make good choices with everything. I know you're a good kid and you want to do well in school but college is a lot different than high school. I want you to have fun and enjoy this time but be careful. Even in a school this small, things can still get out of control."

"Don't worry, Dad," I sighed, grateful that at least it was Charlie who was giving me this talk and not Renee, she would have made it ten times more embarrassing and added some tears into the mixture. "Parties and all that aren't for me."

"I know. This is hard, I want you to have a good time here and make friends but I don't want you to do anything dangerous at the same time."

I gave him a quick hug. "I'll be good, Dad. I'll call you every day and give you an update."

"You don't have to do that," he mumbled, somewhat embarrassed. "I'm sure you'll be out with your friends every night, studying and enjoying the school. Just call me at least once a week and make sure to call Renee too, she's the one you really have to worry about."

"Believe me, I know. Call me when you get home tomorrow so I know the trip was fine." I leaned in and gave him a longer hug and a peck on the cheek. "Love you, Dad, thanks for everything."

His cheeks flushed a little. "Love you too, Bella. Take care."

And then he was gone and I was left in a new state in a new part of the country once more. At least this time I wasn't a novelty, all of the freshmen were new here and there were a lot of us. Plus I had a potential friend right off the bat, I wouldn't have to go through the awkwardness that moving to Forks had entailed. I felt that this move would be so much better than my last one and hopefully it would be less painful.

**AN: **It's a slow first chapter but it'll start to pick up soon. Also, I will probably update this every two or three weeks, I don't want to use up all of the prewritten chapters and then not update for months on end and then just forget about this story (that's basically what happens with everything I write) so I think this way will be good. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight

The next three days were so much fun. There were a bunch of different welcome to Middlebury events including a concert, a trip to Target where we got free bowls of Easy Mac and Vitamin waters, and a barbeque. Catie and I went to as many as possible even on the day that it rained. That was the day of the concert and while I was waiting in the crowd with Catie, I glanced around and saw a flash of black hair at around the same height that Alice was. I shook the thought out of my head, why was I constantly thinking about her? I didn't see anything else suspicious during the rest of the orientation days.

Classes began Tuesday and I was upset that my time with Catie was cut short. We had become close friends, sharing everything, or at least close to everything, about our lives and basically spending every moment together. Unfortunately, we didn't have any classes together. I had the earlier class on Tuesday and by nine I was out of the room and heading across campus to my English 103 class.

The classes were small at Middlebury and my English class only had twenty seats in it. I was one of the first there, I had left the dorms a little early to ensure that I could find my way to the right building and room, so I got settled in my seat at the back of the class and pulled out a book I was halfway through. It was one of the required readings for the class and I figured it would be good to begin early.

The room steadily filled over the next fifteen minutes and a few people were chatting but most kept to themselves. Class was due to begin any minute when there was a tap on my shoulder. Placing my thumb in the book as a bookmark, I turned to the person sitting next to me with a smile on my face that quickly fell into frown.

The smiling pixie sitting next to me was the girl who had popped into my head the past few days, one of the few people I was sure I was never going to see again. Of course she looked the same as she had last September. Her hair, short, spiky, and black, her eyes a bright topaz, and her skin snow white and flawless except for the dark circles under her eyes. She had a broad smile on her impish face, a smile that began to drop as I glared at her.

Why the hell was Alice Cullen in my class?

"Hi, Bella," she said, her voice low and soothing. I almost flinched, it had been so long since I had heard her voice, it almost hurt to hear her speak. It brought back too many memories.

With a scowl on my face I asked, "What are you doing here, Alice?"

Her smile vanished completely. Her voice dropping even lower so that I had to lean in to hear her clearly, she said, "Jasper and I decided to go back to school. We've never gone here before and it's a perfect location for us."

"So you two just happened to decide to go to the same exact school as me? What a coincidence, huh?"

"Yep, it's crazy," she replied, her voice light.

"What's even crazier is that we have a class together. We do just have one class together, right?" My eyes narrowed at her and I held out my hand. "Let me see your schedule, _now_." Maybe I was being a little harsh but I had been doing so well and now she was here and everything was going to be screwed up.

Alice complied and handed over the piece of paper which she most likely didn't need. She'd probably had everything memorized just by glancing at it. I scanned her six classes and compared them to the six I was taking. Along this English class we also had the same seminar and the Reading Women's Writing class. I shouldn't have been surprised that we had three classes together, it was something Alice would do. I was furious, though. These were supposed to be some of the best years of my life after the worst year of my life and now she was going to ruin it by being a constant reminder of what happened.

"What are you playing at, Alice?" I spat, throwing her schedule down on her desk. "Why are you here?"

"Okay, everyone," our teacher, a middle aged woman who looked like she didn't get out much, said, clapping her hands together. "Let's get started. I'm Mrs. Langdon and welcome to English 102, your introductory English course here at Middlebury. This class will be the basis of all your English classes over the next few years…"

Alice dropped a note on my desk and against my better judgment, I opened it.

_ I know you're angry with me. Please meet me after class so I can explain._

I crumpled the note up but, without looking away from the whiteboard, I nodded slightly. Even though I didn't want to speak with her, I needed some kind of closure from her so that I could go about ignoring her in peace.

I ignored Alice for the rest of the time we had in class. Mrs. Langdon went over the syllabus and what books we would need for the year. I kept my eyes focused on the front board and from the corner of my eye, I saw Alice looking at me.

We were let out early once Mrs. Langdon finished going through everything. She acted as thought it were a treat, I disliked her for it. Alice hopped out of her seat instantly and waited expectantly for me to get up. I took my time packing away the papers in my bag. Then there was nothing left to do and I couldn't hold off any longer on following Alice out of the classroom.

"Do you want to come over to mine and Jasper's house?" she asked when we were out of the building. She was back to smiling. "It's right off campus. He's not there yet, he has two classes today, but he'll be there in about two hours."

"No," I stated, keeping my voice hard. It wasn't polite but I was through with niceties, if she wanted to ruin my freshman year then I would be rude. "I want to stay on campus."

"Okay," she sighed, finally starting to realize that I wasn't playing around. "Where would you like to go?"

"Let's just…find a bench away from everyone."

We walked through campus in search for an empty area. We finally came to a part that had little activity and where we could be out of earshot of anyone who would pass by.

"What do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"Do you promise to let me explain myself before you say anything? I really want you to understand what exactly happened."

"I know what happened," I said, crossing my arms, "all of you left me behind because Edward," my voice stuck a little on his name, "thought it was for the best. Well he was wrong. Do you know how much it destroyed me when you left? It took me months to get back to normal! If it wasn't for Jacob, who knows how I would have ended up."

She looked at me through sad, shining eyes. "Bella, please, just let me explain myself. If you still want to hate me afterwards, then fine, but don't hate me until you've heard my side of the story."

"Fine."

"Okay but first, let me just say that I love your hair." My eyes narrowed into slits and she moved right along. "Edward made us leave, he really did believe it was for the best that we leave you. He wanted you to have a normal human life without you being in danger whether from our family or from another vampire. It killed him to leave you but he was really only looking out for you. Can you at least understand that?"

"I would if it wasn't completely insane," I snapped.

"I know it's insane but to him it was the only option to make sure you were completely safe. After we left, all of us broke off from each other. Edward began tracking Victoria to make sure there would be less of a threat for you. He killed her a few weeks ago. Esme and Carlisle moved to Vancouver, Esme found a house in desperate need of restoration and Carlisle was able to find a job at the hospital. Jasper came with me to find out more about my past. I was able to find a lot of information from the asylum I was kept in." Her voice hardened slightly and I couldn't help but soften a little. Alice had had a hard human life and I did feel bad about that. "Emmett and Rosalie took a long honeymoon to Africa. They just got back last month and they're staying with Esme and Carlisle."

"Alice, I don't need to know what everyone's been doing for the past year. I need to know why you stayed away for so long. Edward doesn't control your life, you could have come back to see me at any time. I was miserable."

She dropped her head and looked down at her clasped hands. "I know and I feel awful. I wanted to go back and see you, I really did, but Edward made me swear I wouldn't return to Forks. He was so desperate that I couldn't bring myself to disobey him."

"So all of you just abandoned me?"

"Well…not completely. Edward did come back at one point."

I sat up straighter and finally looked Alice straight on. "What? When?"

"Back in June. He wanted to see you, he was so unhappy that he just wanted to see you and make sure you were all right so he could see that he had done the right thing."

I could already guess at what she was going to say Edward saw. June was one of the best months for me over the past twelve months.

"He saw you with Jacob and from what he said, you were pretty happy. Because of that, his whole idea that you were better off without him was solidified. He could go off and be upset but know that you were happy without him in your life. Are you two still together? I'm just curious. I really am glad that you found him and that you two were happy."

"Jacob and I had a short relationship," I sighed. The few months we were together were great and it came to an end all too soon. He asked me out in May and it was great but there was so much stress from both of us. He had his…wolf problems and I was moving across the country. We mutually broke up in July and we're still friends. When Edward saw us together, that was probably right before all the tension started. "Are you going to tell him all this?"

"No. Edward has no idea that Jasper and I are here with you. The last time he checked in was about two weeks ago right before Jasper and I left to move into the house. His tentative plans were to go to England, he's been avoiding the US as much as he can. The only ones who know we're here are Esme and Carlisle but I'm sure they'll tell Rosalie and Emmett sooner or later."

"Why are you even here, Alice?" I asked. I had lost all the anger in my voice, instead I just sounded tired.

"I want to make things right," she said, reaching out and putting one of her cool hands on top of my own. "I hate that I left you, it hurt me to do so but at the time I had to. I'll do anything to help you forgive me. Please, can we try to fix things and be friends again? I miss you so much, we were like sisters and now that's ruined."

I didn't answer her, instead I looked down at our hands. Even though my skin was pale, hers was whiter. Our skin could have been the same, we could have been the same if only her brother wasn't such an idiot. She may have been forced to leave me but she could have come back at any time. I was hurt and I wasn't sure if anything could mend that.

"I really don't know, Alice," I quietly told her, removing my hand from under hers. "I need some time to think about this. There have been so many changes over the past few days and this just really screwed me up. Can you promise to give me some space until I'm ready?"

She didn't look happy with my reaction but with a resigned sigh she said, "I suppose. Thank you for listening, Bella."

I nodded and walked away, leaving behind Alice just as her whole family had left me behind. I didn't feel bad for doing so, I thought it was only fair that someone else besides me was upset in this mess.

The walk back to my dorm seemed to take far too long. All I wanted to do was lie in bed and forget that this whole day had happened. Maybe I would fall asleep and wake up to find that everything had been a dream and Tuesday hadn't started yet.

I made it into my building and my room before I broke down. Luckily, Catie had just left for her class and she had one right after it, I didn't have to worry about her coming in and seeing me cry. I fell onto my bed and the tears flowed. Everything that I had been able to bury in the very back of my head ever since Jacob fixed me came flooding back. All of the hurt from being left by not only Edward but by six other people who I considered family hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn't control my emotions, it was a mixture of hurt, anger, and just overall sadness. I had been able to stop thinking about all of that for the most part ever since Jacob entered my life and showed me how to live again. Now I was reliving that day when Edward left me all over again. It felt like my heart was being ripped out once more.

My big question at the moment was, is it too late to hop on a plane and go to school in Florida?


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does**

**AN: Good news, I know where I'm going with this story and I'm really excited for it. Hopefully it won't be too out there but you don't have to worry about that now, the big plot point won't happen for a while. Also, I forget if I put this in the last chapter or not but the song I think about when writing this is The One That Got Away by Katy Perry. Does anyone have any constructive criticism for this story? It'd be appreciated to know if anything's annoying with my writing because I feel like I get too repetitive at times. Enjoy the chapter!**

By the time Catie came back to the room, I had calmed down and my eyes were no longer red from crying. I still had my class at two-thirty, the only math class I had to take in college, and this time I was grateful that we got out early.

I went with Catie to dinner and tried to act normally but she could tell something was up.

"Is everything okay, Bella?" she asked once we sat down and began eating. She kept her voice low so the two girls who were sitting with us, Chelsea and Becky who were our neighbors, couldn't hear over the roar of the dining hall. "You've barely said anything all afternoon."

"I'm fine," I said with a false smile. "Just thinking about some stuff."

She dropped it and I attempted to make more conversation with everyone. Chelsea was talking about her introduction to Russian class which she was sure would be the cause of her death. She was majoring in International Studies and was taking the Russian and East European Studies track.

"Why did I choose Russian?" she moaned.

"Why _did_ you choose Russian?" Catie asked with a laugh. "What are you going to do with it?"

"I don't even know. My family and I took a trip to Russia a few years ago and I fell in love with it so my dad was like 'hey, why don't you go major in Russian and you can work there'. Yeah, great idea, Dad. Now I get to learn like the most confusing language ever."

"Switch majors," Becky told her with a sigh. "She's been complaining about this since we moved in but she's actually excited about it," she told Catie and me in a dramatic whisper. Chelsea gave her a little shove and the two of them laughed. They were friends from high school and though dorming with friends didn't seem like the best idea, it looked like it was working for them. The only person I could imagine living with would be Angela but I would be worried about something happening and ruining our friendship. That reminded me that I should call her soon and see how she was getting settled at the University of Washington.

Becky and Chelsea continued to entertain us throughout dinner and then afterwards when we went to their room to watch_ The House Bunny_. After the movie, I left their room so I could call Angela. It was about seven which would make it four her time. I vaguely remembered her schedule and I was pretty sure she didn't have class past three on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Even if she did have later classes, she probably had her phone on silent or even off, she wouldn't risk getting in trouble.

The phone rang four times before Angela answered. "Hello? Bella?"

"Hey, Angela. How's everything going?"

"Pretty good, I have one more day off and then classes start Thursday."

"Wow, lucky. I have my first class today." I sat down on my computer chair and jumped slightly when it rocked back. I still wasn't used to it yet.

"How'd that go?"

"It was…kind of intense." Even though I trusted Angela and considered her my closest friend besides Jacob, I knew I couldn't tell her about Alice and Jasper. "It just looks like there's going to be a lot of reading and essays involved."

"Yeah, that's what I'm looking forward to the least. How's Vermont? Do you miss Forks?"

I laughed a little. "Well, I miss the people from Forks but not the rain. It's been a little cloudy here but that's it, I don't have to wear a rain coat every time I step outside."

"That's good," she chuckled. "It's so weird not seeing everyone. I mean, I see Ben and a few people from school but there are so many people missing like you and Mike."

"Yeah, I wasn't looking forward to moving to a new school again but I've met some nice people. How are you and your roommate getting along?"

We continued talking for a little bit before she had to leave and head to dinner with Ben. We promised to call each other over the weekend and give an update on our classes and everything. I hung up feeling better than I had all day. Angela and I might not be the closest people in the world but she was so nice and calm and just normal compared to my crazy life, talking to her was always good.

The phone call had done a good job with distracting me and I was actually able to focus on the first book we were supposed to be reading for English. We hadn't been assigned it yet but there wasn't much else to do and I would rather read it twice than miss something. I was still reading when Catie came back to the room around nine.

"Hey, you should've come back after your phone call," she said while searching for her pajamas. "We got some other rooms together and played Truth or Dare, it was insane."

"I could hear," I told her with a chuckle. There had been some shouting and laughter from the common room over the past twenty minutes. "I just wanted to get a head start on some work, I'm so afraid of falling behind."

"I hear ya. That stupid math class is what's going to kill me. I'm an English major! What do I need to know math for?"

"And the same with biology. I can understand most of the gen ed requirements but some of them it's just like, I will never need this, it's a waste of time." Needless to say, I had to take an introductory biology class and I wasn't looking forward to it.

Even though I didn't have class until noon the next day, I went to bed early when Catie did. The day had just been too crazy. I was still trying to stick with the hope that when I woke up, the whole day would have been a dream and Alice and Jasper would be nowhere near me.

When I woke up, unfortunately it was Wednesday and the day before really had happened. I had to head off to my biology class at noon and the only bright side I could see was that Alice and I didn't have it together. It wasn't until I was halfway to the science and math building that something hit me. I didn't have the class with Alice but what if I had it with Jasper? I had no idea if he had entered as a freshman like Alice or if he was acting older. With how devious Alice was, I wouldn't doubt it if she made Jasper take the three classes that I had alone.

With that realization that I may not have a peaceful learning moment at Middlebury, I continued trudging towards Smith Hall with a heavy heart. I had a lecture first followed by an hour and a half of lab. I was hoping that my teacher would be kind and let us out of the lecture early so I could have some free time before the lab.

The door to room three fifty-six was open so I walked right into the lecture hall. It was one of the larger rooms on campus, holding about ninety people. I think each building had one lecture hall, maybe two for the Liberal Arts building because it was so busy. The hall was a little more than halfway filled, there were only a few minutes left until class started, but I was able to find a seat in the back of the hall where I could get a good look at just about everyone in the class.

I spent the last few minutes before class began to scan the room and keep an eye out for the honey blonde hair and tall stature of Jasper. Each time I saw the back of some guy's head who matched the description, I would be wrong. The teacher began class by having each row sign an attendance sheet and even then, I didn't see him. It looked like I was safe for at least one class. Once I realized that, however, I grew furious. I shouldn't be afraid to go to class because of someone and here I was, wasting time as I looked for someone who had tried to attack me. I once again, pushed the thought of all Cullens to the back of my mind and focused on Mr. Ziegler who was explaining what textbook we needed and what chapters we would cover over the semester.

We were released from class a half hour early which gave me forty-five minutes to kill. I decided to take a trip over the school bookstore to get the biology book and the lab manual, the only two books I hadn't been able to get ahead of time.

The store was crowded with most students looking for textbooks or picking up a Middlebury shirt. I would have to get one but at another time. From the looks of the lines, it would take a little while to pay for my books and I didn't want to take the time to find a shirt I liked and just waste time then end up being late to class. I quickly found the two books and began looking for the shortest line at the three cash registers. While I was deliberating, someone sidled up next to me and I groaned when a cool hand tapped my arm.

"Hey, Bella!" Alice chirped, smiling up at me.

"What are you doing here, Alice?" I growled. "I thought you were going to give me some space?"

"I know but I was talking to Jasper yesterday and he said I should apologize for springing all of this on you all of a sudden. He's right, it was wrong of me to make sure we took some of the same classes and then just expected things to turn out fine in the end. Can you forgive me?"

"I really don't know," I sighed. "Just tell me, is Jasper going to be any of my classes?"

"No," she said and I trusted her even though she was an expert liar. "He's actually in the graduate school, he finds undergraduate school boring especially after high school. I wouldn't do that to you."

"I really don't know what you would and wouldn't do at this point, Alice. You already came to the same school as me and put yourself in three of my classes. What's next? Are you going to move into my dorm building? Or maybe have Catie move and you'll be my new roommate?"

She looked ashamed as I spoke. "I'm sorry, Bella," she whispered. "I just want to look out for you even if you don't want me to. I feel responsible for your safety, I left you behind once without any protection. I know I said I would give you some time to yourself but I just don't feel right with abandoning you. You might not like it but…I'm going to be here for you."

"Great. Well, I have to go, I have class in a little bit and I have still have to get through this line." I had inched towards a line as we spoke until I was in one and we had moved forward a little bit.

"You wouldn't let me buy those for you would you?"

It was obvious she already knew the answer, I had never let the Cullens pay for anything for me if I could help it. "No, I've got it. I guess I'll just see you tomorrow."

She smiled guiltily. "Am I allowed to sit next to you again?"

"Would it matter if I said no?"

"No, not really. I might not sit directly next to you, then, but I would still be nearby."

"Then just do whatever you want but don't be upset if I'm not very talkative."

"I'll understand. Thank you, Bella." She looked like she was going to hug me but stopped at the last second. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She left me and I stared after her until she was definitely out of the store. By the time I paid and left the school store, I had about five minutes to get back over to the biology building and up to my lab classroom. I made it and found an empty seat at one of the tables of four. At least this class was smaller than the lecture was, there were about twenty of us.

We got started with a quick lab after our teacher, a senior graduate student who seemed nervous about teaching us, gave an overview of what kind of labs we would be doing and how we had to set up our notebooks which would be collected every few weeks for a grade. I was the only girl in the group. Two of the guys, Andrew and Mathias, were juniors and the other guy, Caleb, was a freshman. There wasn't much time to talk during class, Andrew and Mathias weren't that chatty to begin with and I was focused on my lab write up. We managed to get through the lab with no problems, I think the four of us would work well together. I made sure all of the information was recorded, Caleb was focused on making sure we did the correct measurements, and the other two got whatever materials we needed. If that was how it would be for the semester, I figured we could get a good grade for the class.

"Hey, Bella," Caleb said as I walked down the hall. I couldn't wait to get back to the dorm and get ready for dinner with Catie.

"Oh," I looked up from my phone. I was checking to see if Jacob had said anything, we hadn't talked since I left. "Hey, Caleb. What's up?"

"Where are you heading?"

"Over to Hadley. I'm meeting up with my roommate at five and then we're going to dinner."

"It's only four now, what are you going to do until then?"

I shrugged. "Probably just chill around in my room, maybe look over the stuff for bio."

"Would you want to grab a cup of coffee? I know you're going to eat later but coffee's not that filling." He chuckled and nervously ran a hand through his slightly shaggy brown hair. He was tall, nowhere near as tall as Jacob, but maybe an two or three inches shy of six feet. "Eh, you know what? Never mind, it was stupid of me to ask."

"Actually, that'd be great," I said, surprising myself. "Do you want to come with me to drop my things off? I really don't want to carry around a backpack any longer than I have to."

"Okay. Where are you living?"

"Over in Hadley."

"Me too! I'm the fourth floor."

"I'm second."

"That's not too bad. At least if we have homework or a project for class, we can easily work together."

Caleb was a nice, very human, guy. We chatted on the way to Hadley. He came from New Jersey and was majoring in international business and Italian. He thought it was so interesting that I came from Washington. I assured him that Forks really wasn't that interesting – excluding the supernatural creatures – and said that Phoenix had been a lot more interesting.

"Man, you've been all over, huh?" he asked. We were in the staircase of the building at that point.

"Just Forks, Phoenix, and here. It's not that exciting. I'm really tired of moving, actually."

"Where do you think you'll end up living after school?"

"I'm not sure. My dad lives back in Forks and my mom's down in Florida. I guess it'll all depend on where I can get a teaching job. Who knows, maybe I'll decide to stay in Vermont. I'll see what happens in four years. What about you?"

"Jersey's pretty cool so I'll probably live there the majority of the time but I'm hoping to spend a lot of time in Italy. I'll gain about twenty pounds a year, but it'd be so worth it."

We reached my room and I was suddenly self-conscious about what Caleb would see. Catie and I weren't slobs but we were still getting settled with our things and figuring out where everything would go. That and the fact that Catie didn't always put her clothes away when she was finding an outfit left a bit of a mess in the small room.

"Sorry about the mess," I apologized, tossing my backpack onto the computer chair and grabbing my wristlet that held my room key, ID card, and phone.

"This is messy?" he laughed. "Try having two guys who are used to their moms doing most of the cleaning, living together. I'm pretty sure in two weeks, Toby and I are going to have to make a pathway in and out of the room, it's going to be so filled with clothes and crap."

I thought we would head right out but Caleb didn't seem to be in any rush. He was looking around the room but kept his gaze mostly on my side. His eyes came to a rest on the picture of Jacob and me at graduation. It was taken after I had abandoned that hideous yellow robe so I was standing in a white t-shirt and shorts, having forgone the usual white sundress, looking even more like an albino next to Jacob's russet skin. We were hugging, it was a few weeks before we broke up and we were still happy at the moment.

"Your boyfriend?"

"Ex but we're still really close. It was just a friendship that should have stayed a friendship."

He nodded along to what I said. "I had one of those but it was so awkward afterwards that we kind of just fell out of touch."

"That sucks. I can't imagine that happening with Jacob and me again."

"Again?"

I blushed, I hadn't let anything slip but I had to be more careful about what I said. "Yeah, a few months before we dated, there was some personal stuff going on with him and we didn't hang out for weeks. It was awful."

"I can imagine. I hated when Cassie and I had a fight and didn't speak for days. Weeks would have been awful."

"It was but we were able to work things out in the end."

"Does he go to school here?"

"No, he's actually in his senior year back in Forks."

Caleb did a double take with the picture and I remembered that while I had gotten used to the pack looking much older than they are, to other people they still looked like they were twenty-five compared to their actual age.

"He's a senior?"

"Yeah, Jake just looks old for his age. Should we get going?" I wanted to get the conversation away from Jacob and anything that would go towards the supernatural.

"Oh, yeah. So, where do you want to go, Starbucks or Bagel Emporium?"

"Um…I guess Starbucks. If I'm around bagels, I'll end up getting something to eat and I won't have room for dinner."

"Starbucks it is."

We left my room and I breathed a sigh of relief. Even though there was no way Caleb or anyone at Middlebury could guess about my past, I knew I would always be worried about someone discovering the secrets I hid. The only thing I could really do is control the conversations and make sure nothing suspicious was ever said. It may have been paranoid but I don't think I would ever be able to shake that way of thinking.

On the way to Starbucks which was located in the lobby of the library, I kept the conversation on Caleb as much as possible. I asked about his family and the town where he grew up. He assured me that New Jersey was nothing like the Jersey Shore. In his words he had "only met a few oompa loompas and none of them were as stupid as Snooki". I assured him that I never watched that junk reality TV and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank God, I could never pretend to be interested in what was going on in those people's lives."

"I know, it's like how can anyone actually be interested in what's happening in celebrities' lives?"

"So you don't care about any celebrities? What about…Brad Pitt or Orlando Bloom? Don't all girls love them?"

"Maybe most do but I don't really care about their personal lives. The only thing I care about with famous people is when an author I like is going to release a new book. Besides that, everyone can live their own lives and I'll stay blissfully ignorant."

"You're definitely not like other girls, thank God."

I wasn't sure whether I should be offended or not. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Seeming to realize that he may have said something wrong, Caleb backtracked. "It's nothing bad, it's just that most girls I know are so into that stuff and they're always telling me about it like I'm supposed to care. Then when I try to tell them that I don't need to know who broke up or who's going to jail, they get annoyed."

"Oh. Well, then I'm glad to be different."

"What can I get you?" the cashier asked.

Caleb let me go first and I ordered a hot chocolate, I wasn't in the mood for anything with caffeine and because we would be having dinner in less than an hour, I felt no need to get a muffin or cookie. Caleb got a regular coffee and it didn't take long for our simple orders to be filled.

There weren't any tables in Starbucks, it was just a little store in the lobby of the library, so we took our hot drinks outside to one of the picnic tables that was empty.

"What made you come all the way across the country for school?" Caleb asked after we had sat in silence for a moment.

"It's a good school for my major and they gave me a scholarship I couldn't pass up."

"Two very good reasons. Where else were you looking?"

"Two schools in Florida so I could be closer to my mom and one in California since it was only a few hours away from my dad."

Talking to Caleb was easy. I didn't have to scramble for conversation, it just flowed naturally. Talking to him actually reminded me of all the times Jacob and I hung out in his garage while he fixed up the bikes. Those were the times when I could just lose myself in the conversation and not worry about all my problems. I didn't get as comfortable and safe a sense as I had gotten when I was with Jacob around Caleb but it was still a nice feeling.

I completely lost track of the time when my phone buzzed with a text message from Catie.

_Where are you? I'm inside with Chelsea and Becky_

"Oh, shoot!" I exclaimed while typing back an apology and telling Catie that I was on my way. It was five-fifteen. "I forgot about dinner."

"Whoops. Guess I talk too much."

"Nah, I was just so into your story about how ghetto your high school was."

He chuckled and downed the rest of his drink. "Well, I guess I'll let you go to your friends. I'm glad we did this."

"Hey, why don't you just come to dinner too?" I asked, once again surprising myself. I was never this forward, especially with guys.

"Really? Your friends wouldn't mind?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Come on, let's get over there before they finish eating."

Proctor Dining Hall had three different food services; there was a bagel place, a smoothie place, and the all-you-can-eat buffet. We usually ate at the buffet for dinner because there was a wider variety to choose from. Along with the usual pizza, pasta, and burgers that were available they also had a different main course every day or you could get a wrap made. There was also a salad bar and soft serve ice cream. They had everything there.

Catie had told me that they had a table towards the back of the room so Caleb and I quickly got our food, I went with the roast pork and potatoes that was the special dish of the night, and began our search for the three girls. I found them at a table that was situated next to the large wall made of glass. It looked out on the quad where a few guys were tossing a football and a few people had blankets out to lie out and enjoy the nice weather while it lasted.

"Hey, guys," I said, taking my seat next to Catie. "This is Caleb, we have biology together and he's in Hadley up on the fourth floor. This is Catie, my roommate, and our neighbors Becky and Chelsea."

Everyone said their hellos and, when Caleb left for a second to grab a salad, I heard the praise and approval from the girls. They assumed we were interested in each other and I blushed and stumbled over my words to tell them that that was not the case. My cheeks were still pink when Caleb returned.

The girls dropped what they were saying and instead focused on asking Caleb about himself. At least they were fine with me inviting him to dinner. I wasn't used to a situation like this, inviting a guy friend out with the girlfriends. With Edward, it was never really an option and even when I was with Jacob, school was pretty much over and the only two people I really hung out with over the summer were Angela and Jessica. Since neither of them really knew Jacob, I had never really invited him to come along when all of us were hanging out. I found it much more fun to hang out with the wolf pack, anyway.

Walking back to the dorm after dinner, I thought I saw Alice but I wasn't positive. If it was her then good, let her see me happy with my _human_ friends. She could report back to her brother that I was happy and fine without him. Hell, it was good for her to see how happy I was without all of them in my life. Maybe that would help to get her to back off.

I never thought I could have such harsh thoughts toward Alice but things changed. People change, and that had happened to me. Maybe I would be able to forgive Alice eventually but it would take more than her just popping up in my classes and being cheery every day. She had to earn my trust back and even then, things most likely wouldn't be the same.

Caleb walked Catie and me to our rooms then left for his own room. Thankfully, Catie waited until the door was shut behind us to say anything.

"Isabella Swan," she chided, standing with her hands on her hips but she was smiling, "look at you go. You haven't even been here a week and you're already moving in on a hot boy."

There was no way I couldn't blush at that. "Catie! It's not like that. We're in the same biology group and after class he wanted to get a cup of coffee. There was nothing romantic about it."

"Are you blind, Bella? Getting coffee is like _the_ most cliché romantic thing ever! Also, I notice you didn't argue that he was hot."

I sputtered incoherently and she just smiled more broadly. All I could think was, if she thought Caleb was hot, and I couldn't argue that he was good looking, imagine what she would think of Edward. Ugh, why did I have to think that?

"I'm guessing he'll ask you out by the end of the month. If I'm wrong, I'll never bring it up again."

"Catie, you're insane. There's nothing between Caleb and me, we just met!"

"There is a thing called love at first sight and it does exist. Caleb looked a little smitten with you even if you didn't notice. Just ask Becky and Chelsea, I'm sure they'd agree with me."

"Then all three of you are delusional. Maybe you should go to the health center."

She huffed and stood with her arms crossed, glaring at me. "Fine, if you don't want to admit there's nothing between you two then be that way-"

"I will," I happily said.

"_But_, when I'm proven right, you'll owe me an apology for being so stubborn."

"Yeah, okay. If that ever happens, I'll apologize."

She smiled, satisfied with my answer, and went over to grab her pajamas and shower caddy. A lot of people on our floor were still at dinner or class so this was the perfect time to get a hot water shower in. I decided to call Jacob before showering, I missed my personal sun.

The third ring cut off abruptly and Billy answered. "Hello?"

"Hi, Billy, it's Bella. Is Jacob around?"

"Ah, no, I'm sorry, Bella. He's out with the pack for a few hours."

"Oh." I tried to keep my voice upbeat, I knew it was something Jacob had to do but I did miss him. "Okay, could you have him call me back when he gets in if it's not too late? Or he could call me tomorrow, I'm out of class by two."

"Will do. How's school going?"

"It's good." I didn't feel the need to mention Alice and Jasper. At the moment, it wasn't that big of a deal and if I told Billy then he would tell Jacob and I wasn't sure if I was ready for him to know that I was once again around vampires. If Jacob knew that, he would probably find a way here to protect me. That was the last thing I needed done. I wouldn't worry him until it was absolutely necessary.

"Good, good. I should go, Bella, I was heading over to Sue's when you called."

"Oh! Sorry, talk to you later, Billy."

"Goodbye, Bella, stay safe."

There wasn't much left to do. I showered quickly, finishing before Catie who had to take the longest showers ever, and headed back to the room. I was bored. There wasn't much to do yet since I'd only been to three classes. I settled into bed with Linkin Park playing on my iPod and the book I had begun yesterday in my hand. There wasn't anything else to do in the dorms. Becky had a night class, Chelsea was catching up with some friends she knew from high school, and Catie had to do her hair after her shower which seemed to take forever. I was going to enjoy the free time I had while it lasted, though. Before long I was sure I would be swamped with papers and outlining chapters or studying for tests. So I settled into bed with my book and read for a few hours, determined to just relax for a little while.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight**

**AN: I can't believe I already have fifty pages of this written, I'm up to chapter 6 and have parts for two future chapters written. I hope all of you are enjoying this and please, constructive criticism would be great because I feel like I'm too repetitive at times and I don't want the story to get annoying. Enjoy chapter four!**

Thursday was much the same as Tuesday. I had English with Alice but she let me alone, only saying "Good morning, Bella" to which I mumbled a reply. She seemed pleased that I was at least acknowledging her, she smiled and listened intently as Mrs. Langdon spoke, taking extremely detailed notes that she most likely didn't need. She probably didn't even need to attend class. She could just show up on test days and for the final and she'd ace the class.

When we were let out, I walked out without glancing back at her. I was half certain that she would follow me back to my dorm but no, I made it to Hadley alone. It was barely eleven and I didn't have class until two-thirty so I sent Renee an email, something I should probably do more often, and copied down the vocabulary words from the sheet Mrs. Langdon had handed out. For my scholarship, I had to keep my GPA at a 3.5 or higher so I really had to work to keep my grades up.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. I got lunch with Chelsea and then headed off to math. Since it was an algebra class, I knew the stuff we were learning for the first few chapters. The only reason I was taking the class was because it was a general education requirement.

Friday was a long day with classes from ten to three. Not only that but I had both classes with Alice. I was dreading the five hours I would spend in class with her, most likely with the two of us sitting next to each other since she insisted on it.

First we had our seminar. I had chosen The Hero-Villain in Renaissance Drama. I was surprised Alice had opted to take the same seminar as me, one of the choices had been about the history of shopping. One of the other options was about vampires in pop culture, that should have been entertaining to her as well. When I saw that class, I immediately skipped over it.

I got to class early and chose one of the seats in the front row. At least this way Alice wouldn't be able to talk to me much or pass notes. My teacher looked up from the computer at the front of the class and smiled.

"Hey, there! I'm, Mrs. Lane."

"Bella Swan."

"Well, Bella Swan, are you looking forward to learning all about Renaissance drama and the hero-villain relationships within it?"

"You bet."

"Oh, here's another early bird. You two do know that there's still like twenty minutes before you have to be here, right?"

Alice smiled at Mrs. Lane and then at me, her teeth glinting in the florescent lights. "I know, I had to come over with my boyfriend, though, his class starts in five minutes."

I scowled at her as she took the seat next to me just like I knew she would.

"And who are you?" Mrs. Lane asked.

"Alice Cullen."

"Okay so Bella and Alice. Well, I have to run down the hall for a few minutes so just chill out and relax and I'll be back in a few minutes."

"She seems nice," Alice said after Mrs. Lane left. "I think this will be a good class."

"Alice," I started but she cut me off.

"I know, I know," she sighed. "It's just so hard to not speak with you. Don't you miss how close we were? I love Rosalie but you and I had such a close, sisterly relationship."

She knew just the thing to say that would make me feel guilty. It was just like last year when she would mention how she couldn't remember any of her human life and I then found myself becoming her Barbie.

I grimaced at her words and, with my voice slightly softer, said, "Of course I miss it. How could I not? But-"

"But I hurt you." Her topaz eyes were sad as she frowned up at me. "It pains me every time you say that but I deserve it. You have no idea how badly I want to call him up and tell him just how stupid he truly is for what he did."

"But you won't."

"No. If I told him anything…well let's just say, no one would be happy after that," she chuckled humorlessly. "If he were to come back, though, would you speak to him? I doubt forgiveness would be possible."

"I would yell at him," I confidently said. "I would tell him just how wrong he was and I would make sure he knows just how bad his decision was."

Alice looked…proud of what I said. At least she was nodding along and smiling as I spoke which looked promising. "I know I don't have the right to do this but I have a favor to ask you."

That was a complete subject change. I wasn't sure if I should be suspicious or not so I slowly asked, "What is it?"

"Jasper feels so awful about what he did at your party and he would like to see you to apologize. He feels responsible for what happened."

"He shouldn't," I earnestly told her. "It was no one's fault really."

"Still, he would feel so much better if he could apologize to you in person."

My suspicions rose. "And where would we meet up?"

"Well, Jasper and I do have a house where no humans would be able to overhear us."

"What's to overhear in the words 'I'm sorry'?"

She gave me a dazzling smile. "Please, Bella? Jasper would just like to speak to you for a few minutes."

"You're not going to let up until I say yes, are you?"

"You know me so well."

"Fine, I'm assuming you want me to come over after Reading Women's Writing?"

"That would be great."

The classroom was begin to fill up and Mrs. Lane came back in. I went back to my task of ignoring Alice. Why did she have to have her way? If I was a little tougher, I would have told her no way. Sure, I forgave Jasper for what happened, but that didn't mean I had to go to their house and hear an apology. I didn't hold as much of a grudge against Jasper for everything, we hadn't been close to begin with so when he left, it hadn't hurt as much. Even though I wasn't as angry with him, that didn't mean I was completely fine with going over and having a conversation with him. I was sure it would start off with his apology and then Alice would manipulate the situation and I would end up talking to her for who knows how long.

"All right, guys," Mrs. Lane announced, interrupting my inner grumbling. "I'm Mrs. Lane but that just makes me think of my mother-in-law so feel free to call me Jennifer. Welcome to the Hero-Villain in Renaissance Drama, your freshman seminar for Middlebury! This class is designed to introduce you to the way college classes function. You aren't in high school anymore and things are different here. Hopefully you'll find that this class will help you while still being enjoyable."

Like most of the other first classes, we went over the syllabus and what we would be doing in class. However, once we finished up with that, Mrs. Lane, calling her Jennifer seemed weird, jumped right into teaching. This was good, though, because it left no extra time for Alice to speak to me. When class let out there was nothing to stop her.

She walked right next to me, chatting about what she expected from both of our Friday classes. She'd already seen us having fun in the Reading Women's Writing class though I wasn't sure if I believed her. Anything Alice said could be a ploy to get me to become her friend again. Did I think she would be so deceitful? Yes, absolutely. I'm sure she wouldn't do it to be hurtful but I still had to be on my guard.

We got right to work in Reading Women's Writing. Because we only had the class once a week, we had a lot to cover in a three hour period. I was really excited for the class, though, because one of the authors we were going to be studying was Jane Austen. At least I had a chance to do well with one of the sections. Our teacher, a formidable woman with a sharp voice and what seemed like little to no sense of humor, kept us until three, glaring at anyone who tried to leave at two fifty-nine. I don't know what Alice was talking about with how much fun we would have in the class with that woman as the teacher.

"She'll loosen up soon," Alice assured me. "She's one of those teachers who just acts tough in the beginning so that the students don't act up. Do you want to drop your bag off before you come over?"

"Sure, I guess."

She followed me over to Hadley and the whole walk over I was praying that Catie wasn't in the room. I didn't want the two to meet, I was sure Alice would warm up to Catie and once they became friends, Alice would have an excuse to come over more often. I couldn't remember Catie's Friday schedule but I thought that she was in class until almost five, of course, I could have been thinking about Monday for all I knew.

We got to my room and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that it was empty. I dumped my backpack on my bed and grabbed my smaller backpack that I used for a purse. I stuffed my wallet with my phone, ID card, and key inside and turned to Alice.

"I'm ready."

I turned to head towards the door but Alice was looking out the window. No, actually, she was looking at the picture on the window sill. It was the same picture of Jacob and me that Caleb had noticed the other day but instead of looking curious, Alice looked sad.

"Alice?"

"I just wish there was a picture of you and Edward like this, with you smiling this widely in his arms. I just wish…I wish things could have turned out like I saw them."

I stiffened and inched towards the door. This was not a conversation I wanted to be having. "Things change. Can we go now?"

"Yes, of course." She tore her eyes from the photo and followed me out of the room.

Because they lived close by, Alice and Jasper didn't drive to school. The walk only took fifteen minutes but it felt much longer as Alice told me all about their house and how it was perfect for the two of them.

"It's adorable and I've been having so much fun with the decorating. That's the best thing about having our own house. Usually Esme will decorate with her own taste and while it always looks great, I love adding my own flair in."

I was praying that we would just get to the house when she veered off onto a walkway up to a small, one story brick house.

"This is it," she brightly told me. "What do you think?"

"It's great but not what I would imagine for you."

"Oh?"

"Well, I'm used to the house in Forks which had to hold six of you and it was so open. This one just looks so different from it."

"It is different from what we usually go for but Jasper and I thought it would be nice to be a little different here. Come on inside, I can't wait to show you around!"

We walked into the living room which was cozy. Instead of the lighter tones that had been in the Forks house, Alice had gone with darker earth tones here. The floor was dark wood and the walls were paneled wood. A wrap around couch sat in front of a small stone fireplace and a flat screen TV was above the mantle. There was a bare coffee table in front of the couch and that was it for the living room. The living room led into a kitchen which looked pretty empty from where I stood. Then there was the small hallway Alice was leading me towards. There were only three other rooms in the house, a bathroom, a small guestroom, and a large master bedroom. I was very surprised at how small this place was. It was nicely decorated, though. Alice had decorations hanging all over but she spaced them artfully so that they didn't seem overbearing.

"What do you think?" Alice asked after I had been given the full tour and we were sitting on the couch.

"It looks great, Alice. I just can't believe you didn't get a bigger house."

"With just the two of us here, we didn't see any reason to get a two story one with bedrooms that would just be empty."

"Yeah. When should Jasper get here?"

"Soon. His class let out a few minutes after ours. He should be here within the next five minutes. Would you like some water? That's the only thing we have, I'm afraid."

"No, I'm fine."

The front door finally opened and Jasper walked in, his face emotionless. Even though I had seen him for months before the night of my birthday party, the most vibrant memory I had of Jasper was when he was trying to attack me. I could see the craziness in his eyes, see the strain as he tried to fight off his brothers. Now seeing him, I tried to push away that old memory and remain calm, I didn't want to make him feel bad if he felt fear rolling off me.

"Bella," he quietly said once the door was closed behind him.

"Hey, Jasper."

There was an awkward silence which neither of us seemed inclined to break. Alice, of course, was the one who jumped up and went over to Jasper then dragged him over to the couch. She took his school bag and started going towards the hallway.

"I'll be right back. One of you please say something."

Jasper was the braver one, of course. "I assume Alice told you why I wanted to see you?"

"She said you wanted to apologize but really, you don't need to. I don't blame you Jasper. I should have been more careful."

"No, I blame myself for not having more control."

"It's not your fault."

"Please, just accept my apology so I can feel marginally better about myself for what happened."

I huffed but I couldn't deny Jasper his request. "I forgive you."

He smiled softly and I hoped that this was the vision of Jasper that I carried with me. This relaxed, content man and not the blood crazed vampire from my memory. "Thank you," he said.

"Are you two good now?" Alice asked, practically skipping into the room, she was so giddy.

"Yeah, can you take me back to school?" I asked, standing up.

"But you've barely been here ten minutes. Can't you just stay a little longer and catch up?"

"Alice, we've been catching up for the past few days."

"Not really, I've been doing basically all of the talking. We don't really know anything about what you've been up to for the past year," she pointed out.

"I haven't really done much," I mumbled.

"Come on," Alice said, sounding a little annoyed. Good, it wasn't my job to make her happy. "There has to be something you could tell us."

I played with the sleeve of my shirt. "There really isn't much to say. I spent most of my time with Jacob or with Angela and sometimes Jess. Instead of going to prom, I went over to the reservation and spent time with Jacob and his friends."

Alice sighed. "Of course you would skip out on prom."

"I went once, I didn't see the need to go again. My summer was pretty relaxed. I didn't work much, I was usually out on the reservation."

"It's strange," Alice murmured. "You spent so much time with Jacob and yet when I was looking out for you, I never saw him."

I shrugged, maybe it was some wolf thing but I didn't feel the need to mention to Alice and Jasper what the pack was. "That's basically the only interesting stuff I have to tell you."

"Wow, hopefully college will be more interesting than senior year."

"I wouldn't say senior year was uninteresting per say," I muttered. "There just isn't much to report."

"That makes no sense, Bella," Alice pointed out.

"It does to me. Can I go back to the dorms now? I want to start working on that article summary for the seminar."

"It's a Friday, are you really going to spend all weekend doing homework?"

I stood up and looked over at her. "No but if I do it now, then I don't have to worry about it tomorrow or Sunday. Now, are you going to walk with me or should I just say bye now?"

She looked mildly insulted. "Like I would allow you to walk back to school by yourself. I know this is a quaint town and everything, but that doesn't mean it's completely safe. Plus, no matter where you are, you should not go out by yourself. There are some crazy people out there."

"You sound like Edward."

"Well, I am here to look out for you although I won't be quite as…high strong as Edward was."

That was a relief. At least I would have some freedom. Although, it really didn't matter if Alice felt I was doing something dangerous, she had no hold over me. Sure she could follow me but she wouldn't be able to stop me. That was a cheering thought.

The whole encounter had barely taken an hour. Alice walked me all the way to Hadley even though I assured her that once I was on campus, I would be fine. Neither of us talked much which I was fine with. I think I'd said more than enough for the day.

"I'll see you Monday," Alice said as I headed up the steps. She sounded slightly forlorn and when I glanced back, she was frowning, her ocher eyes downcast.

"Goodbye, Alice."

As I walked inside the dorm building, the one place she couldn't follow, I couldn't shake the look on her face. Maybe she had thought that me agreeing to go over to her house was a turning point, that maybe it would push us closer together. What she had to understand was that I needed to reacquaint myself with her slowly. Three days wasn't enough to fix everything between us no matter what she wanted.

"Hey, Bella. Where were you?" Catie asked when I entered the room. "I was going to see if you wanted to head over to the school store and get some clothes."

"Oh, sorry. I had to meet with someone and it took a little longer than expected. Do you want to head over now? We have some time before we're supposed to meet Becky for dinner."

"Sounds good to me."

I headed out with my new friend, someone who I was sure would not hurt me as much as those in my past had. It felt good to be starting over. Looking back on my first few days at Middlebury, I felt like I had made a good choice. I was happy here, I had new friends who were fun and nice, interesting classes, and a chance to leave the old Bella behind. No one knew about what had happened last September, no one here saw me at my worst. Even with Alice here, I could leave that part of me behind and just focus on the better parts of me. Hopefully, if I kept up that attitude this year would be amazing and if not…well I could always try transferring and starting over once again.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out, life's been pretty hectic at the moment. I'm a freshman in college and in the process of working on transferring. Word to the wise, transferring is the biggest pain when you just filled out applications a year ago. I've been freaking out and panicking from everything, especially over the past few days because the semester's finishing up. Christmas is coming up and I have a month long break so hopefully I can get more writing done.**

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns **_**Twilight**_

My first weekend at college was definitely different than what I was used to. I had the majority of my homework finished by Friday evening which left that night and Saturday and Sunday open to hang out with the girls and Caleb. Catie had taken it upon herself to invite Caleb into our group and she seemed determined to push the two of us together no matter how much I protested that we were just friends, if that. We barely knew each other; I was more inclined to refer to the two of us as acquaintances but friends sounded politer.

Friday night, we walked around the town and just checked out what there was to do. There wasn't much, it was a small town, but we did find a cute coffee place that had open mic nights on alternating Fridays and Saturdays. With the lack of fun things to do, Chelsea and Becky were thankful that they'd brought their cars. There was a nearby city which had at least one good club and a big mall. Saturday we actually went to the club, a first for me. I was very reluctant to go when Catie first suggested it.

"What do you have against clubs?" she asked while comparing two seemingly identical black skirts in front of the mirror.

"I don't like the music, I don't like dancing period, and everyone there is usually drunk and rude."

"Dancing is fun, just ignore the music and enjoy the time with your friends, and it's like mandatory to deal with drunks and rude people in college so why not be out somewhere fun when you have to deal with them? Come on, Bella, please? We're not going to stay for a super long time, maybe two hours at the most. We just want to check out the place and see if it's worth going back to. Plus, it's just a girls' night, I didn't say anything to Caleb."

That made things a little better, at least if I was forced to dance or anything, I would only look like an idiot in front of Catie, Chelsea, and Becky. I still wasn't completely sold, though, so I pulled the clothes card.

"I don't exactly have 'club' attire."

"Not a problem," she brightly told me, coming over and grabbing my arm. She pulled me off the bed and over to her closet. "My stuff will fit you. Do you like skirts?"

I wrinkled my nose in distaste. "No."

"Okay, I have some…skinny jeans and oh! This shirt will look great on you. Try them on."

I looked at the clothes in my hands, black skinny jeans and a cropped see through short-sleeved shirt. The shirt was white and lacy and I was ordered to put a black camisole underneath it. The outfit wasn't my first choice but based on the short skirt and tight shirt Catie had donned, I was getting off pretty easily. I changed just so I could get it over with and hope Catie would drop the whole thing.

"Bella, you look good," Catie said, sounding only mildly shocked.

I should have been offended but she was right. The clothes fit me well and were definitely different from what I usually wore. I still didn't want to go to a club, though, no matter how good I looked.

"Can I change?"

"No! Come on, Bella. You look good and we're going to have a great time tonight. Please come with us? If you don't have fun then I'll never ask you to go to a club again…well except for our twenty-first birthdays but that's a no brainer."

"I'm not getting drunk the day I turn twenty-one."

"You still have a few years, maybe you'll change your mind." She grabbed her small purse which only held her wallet, key, and ID card and then started pulling me towards the door. "Now, you are going to show Becky and Chelsea how awesome you look, then you are going to drive to the city with us, and finally, you are going to have a kickass time with us. Understood?"

"I don't even have shoes on!"

She huffed but allowed me to put on my own pairs of Converse which she assured me went with the outfit. I couldn't care less if sneakers matched a club outfit. She put my things in her purse and then resumed the task of dragging me out into the hallway and over to Becky and Chelsea's room.

"Wow, you actually got her to come?" Chelsea asked when she opened the door. She wore a tight, black mini-dress and heels. Next to her, I looked extremely underdressed. "You're just like, Becky, she refuses to show some leg too."

"Bitch, my boobs are popping out of this shirt!" Becky exclaimed from inside the room. "I don't feel like being hit on by everyone tonight and if I go in a skirt, well, there's only so much of my body that men can handle!"

We entered the room and Chelsea said, "You are so full of yourself. Can you just finish up? I'd like to get there before they close."

"It's barely after nine. There's not going to be anyone there."

"Deal with it. Grab your stuff and let's get a move on."

Becky put the finishing touches on her makeup and I was able to get a good look at her outfit. I thanked God that Catie had given me an outfit that covered my body. Becky hadn't been exaggerating when she said her chest was popping out of the dress. She was big chested to begin with but the tight tube top she wore really emphasized her bust. She'd styled her long blonde hair in loose curls and had put some makeup on around her eyes. Chelsea hadn't done much besides dress up. I was definitely the least dolled up between the four of us and I was completely fine with that.

It took about twenty minutes to drive over to Pulse which, despite what Becky had said, already had a line snaking from the door. It took nearly twenty minutes for us to actually get inside. Even from our place outside of the building, the faint sound of loud, thumping music was audible. A few people were standing outside smoking and my nose crinkled at the scent.

Inside the building was just as I had imagined it would be. The music was so loud that I had to shout to be heard. It was also extremely crowded; I kept my hand linked with Catie's the whole time for fear that we would be separated. I was forced onto the dance floor and at first I resisted, dancing still wasn't my thing, but after a little bit of watching my friends having so much fun, I slowly joined in. It wasn't the most enjoyable thing ever but I did have some fun. I decided that maybe going to the club every so often wouldn't be terrible but it definitely wasn't going to be an every week occurrence and no way was I taking part in Thirsty Thursday.

I ended up sleeping until almost noon on Sunday. We hadn't stayed at the club too late but then afterwards, we had Becky and Chelsea over in our room for a few hours. I had a feeling that late nights would become a new habit for me. I don't think I'd gone to bed before midnight since I got to school, it was a good thing I didn't have any eight AMs. I was dreading when I would have to pull all nighters; coffee would probably become my new best friend.

Sunday was mostly a lazy day. Catie had some homework she had to do, one of her professors had already assigned a paper much to her chagrin, so I spent the day with Caleb. He had come by around two to see if I was up for grabbing a coffee and then we went to dinner with Chelsea at five. It was nice to be able to just hang out with Caleb and talk. He was a really good listener, so good in fact that I felt like I was monopolizing the conversation. He assured me that I wasn't, though, but I let him talk more.

The best part of Sunday occurred around seven when I came back from my shower. I was in the process of brushing my hair when my phone lit up on my desk. Catie had gone over to the dining hall to grab a quick bite to eat so I didn't have to worry about leaving the room to take the call.

"Hello?" I said, I hadn't bothered to check the caller ID.

"Hey, Bells," Jacob's tired voice crackled through the bad reception.

"Jake! Hey! How've you been? I called the other day but you were out."

"I heard, sorry it's taken me so long to call back. Sam's had us running longer patrols."

That was concerning. I thought they only did that when there was a treat. "Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing really. Embry was out the other day and caught the scent of a bloodsucker. We haven't seen any around but that doesn't mean whoever it was won't pass through again. We're just going to stay on our guard for the time being."

"Oh, well…stay safe."

He chuckled. "Don't worry about me, Bella, I can take care of myself. How're you doing? Is college everything you hoped and dreamed it would be?"

I felt guilty as I told him about Middlebury but omitted the most important part, the vampires. He was sure to find out, especially if Alice's scent clung to me when I came home. "It's great, I've made a few friends and the classes are fine at the moment. Of course, I haven't been assigned any papers or projects yet. I'm sure once that starts happening, I'll change my tune. How's everything with you minus the wolf thing? Do you like senior year?"

The shrug in his voice was practically audible. "It's school, I'd rather be out running patrol instead. But I just have to get through the next nine months and then I'm out of there."

"Don't hold back your love of school, Jake," I laughed. "Promise you won't drop out to just be a wolf all day."

He huffed. "Man, you and my dad are on the same wavelength. He had me promise the same thing over the summer because I was complaining so much."

"I didn't hear anything assuring in what you just said."

"I promise," he sighed a few seconds later. "I won't be too happy about it but I'll stick out the year."

I smiled, I had truly been worried for a moment. It was obvious how much he preferred being outside in his wolf form instead of inside, learning about things that he would never use again. If given the choice, I didn't doubt that he would leave school, it just wasn't his top priority at the moment.

"I'm going to head out," he said after a short silence. "I have to run patrols tonight so I should get some sleep."

"Don't tire yourself out too much," I warned, sounding like a mother. "The last thing you need is to turn into a zombie."

"I'll be fine. Talk to you later, Bells. I'll try to call you sometime this week."

"Okay," I quietly said, upset that our time was cut short. We had been virtually inseparable during the summer and now all we had time for was a short conversation after days of not speaking. "Call me anytime. Bye."

I was a little grumpy after I hung up with Jacob even though it wasn't his fault. We both had different lives now, he had a responsibility to do and I couldn't count on him being able to talk to me whenever I wanted. This was all a part of growing up but after we stopped talking all I wished for was that we could go back to the past few months when it was just the two of us, hanging out in the garage or down at the beach.

I must have had a sour look on my face after the call ended because when Catie came in from her shower, she asked me what was wrong.

"Just wishing some things were different," I told her, not bothering to elaborate anymore. I kept to myself for the rest of the night. I was acting childish but at the moment, I just wanted a hug from my best friend. Too bad I wouldn't see him for a few months. College was so great.


End file.
